4sight Health January 18, 2022
Each year on MLK Day, I reread Martin Luther King Jr’s powerful 1963 Letter from the Birmingham Jail. King’s compelling defense of nonviolent protest came in response to an ecumenical letter from eight southern clergy who questioned his “unwise and untimely” tactics.
King’s letter turned the tide. Later that year, he delivered his triumphant “I have a dream” speech on the Washington Mall. King’s influence on the civil rights movement earned him recognition as Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year” in 1963.
In the Birmingham letter, King cites theologian Reinhold Neibuhr when observing that “groups are more immoral than individuals.” This observation was included within a passage describing the necessity of pressuring privileged groups to support civil rights legislation.
King...